Can’t make any one join administration: Supreme court

In an apparent observation directed at the Uttar Pradesh government, the Supreme Court Monday said it could not pick up some one and appoint him to the top position in administration and pay his salary from the public exchequer.

‘You can’t pick up someone and appoint him and make him anything,’ said the supreme court bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice T.S. Thakur while hearing a petition challenging the appointment of Shashank Shekhar as Uttar Pradesh cabinet secretary, a post usually held by Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.

Shekhar is a qualified pilot and does not belong to the IAS. He was made the cabinet secretary in 2007 when Chief Minister Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party came to power.